|
A basic model for curriculum / syllabus development
Verduin’s model (1980) was developed to document and guide a system
of curriculum / syllabus development that was used in urban adult
education centres. It recognizes the peculiar needs of adult learners. The
model can be applied to different sectors, including the forestry sector.
The approach promoted by Verduin includes taking the “learners” from
where they are in life to where they need to be according to the organisations and their individual perspectives.
Verduin’s model has five major elements: rationale, outside political
forces, goal identification, instructional activities and organization, and
evaluation. These elements all have sub-elements. The description
contained in these guidelines depict Verduin’s model in terms of how
they relate to curriculum / syllabus development for forestry management.
Figure 1: Inter-relationship: Curricula / Syllabus & Verduin’s five elements
(click inside to enlarge)
1. Rationale
The first element of curriculum planning is that of the rationale, or
explaining why a curriculum is being developed or revised. However, for
the subject syllabi the rationale is included in the synopsis. In Forestry,
one can take the rationale directly from the people to be trained. One of
the core beliefs of a hallmark of good curriculum development is that one
develops long-term relationships with “clients” to move them through a
training stream. For example, learners may start with the Foresters
Certificate and move through Forest Rangers. A successful curriculum
takes learners from where they are and moves them to where they need to
be to meet their own and the organisations goals. The rationale has two
steps: target group identification and needs assessment of trainees has to
be included in a training course.
- Target Group Identification. It is critical to identify the primary target
group to be reached through the training course. The more one knows
about the target group and the more specific target group has been
identified, the better it is to design a curricula or syllabus that best
meets their needs. In Forestry one may have dealt with Foresters in the
past, in future private plantations owner and other target groups may
be added. In this case the curricula / syllabus would need to be
adapted according to the target groups needs and requirements. The
first step that needs to be undertaken is to get to know the target group
and to understand their motivation for learning. Often training
courses may target two or more diverse target groups. It is then
important to understand the differences between the groups and
design training courses to meet both sets of needs.
- Needs Assessment. Needs assessments can be formal or informal. It
is periodically advantageous to conduct formal needs assessments for
the forestry sector. When working with a new professional picture of
say the Forest Rangers that also embrace their role in the private
sector, and then it is mandatory to conduct a formal needs assessment.
Informal needs assessments can be conducted by keeping one’s ear to
the ground, visiting potential employers of the Foresters and Forest
Rangers.
2. Political Forces
It may also be worthwhile thinking through the effects of outside political
forces to act as modifiers between rationale and goals. This is particularly appropriate for Forest management where the identified target
audience needs must be harmonized with the desires of powerful outside
forces. Three types of outside forces operating on the syllabus / curriculum development process include government agencies, private organizations, and non-governmental organizations.
- Government Agencies. Regulations and legal requirements are
regularly imposed upon the forestry professionals. The effects that the
Acts have on the forestry sector (for example the privatisation efforts)
as well as external factors such as the desire to pursue the ISO 9002 or
the standards means that the curriculum and syllabus needs to be
constantly revised.
- Private Organizations. Curricula and syllabus contents can be
affected by private organizations in a variety of ways. Private forestry
sector on the timber and non-timber sectors can set the technical
standards associated with a certain skill set. For example, private log
millers may establish and use the standards that govern the ways that
forest products are measured. A training programme in forest measurements
needs to account for these rules, and the need for new
training programmes may arise when new rules are put into place.
Market forces can be significant factors in the need for and type of
training programme developed.
- NGOs. Non-governmental organizations such as environmental
groups can have major impacts on the demand for continuing training
programmes. One example of this is through the establishment of
sustainable development criteria that drive much present-day management.
Other NGOs are important for funding continuing training
programmes.
3. Learning Goal Identification
The most important element in a curriculum development model is the
goal identification. Learning activities are developed as specific responses to goal statements. The process of defining the goal statements
determines what will be taught and what will not. It also determines how
easy it will be to evaluate what is learned. Goals give curriculum developers targets to shoot for. Learning activities are attempts to hit those targets and evaluations are measures to see how many targets were hit. Three levels of goals can be set for curriculum: general goals, intermediate goals, and specific goals. Similar hierarchy of goals can also be set for the subject syllabus.
- General Level (Abstract). These goals are the guiding principles
behind large-scale training courses. For instance, the Forestry course
may have 1-2 general goals. One could be: sustainable management of
the Forests.
- Intermediate Level (Course/Subject Level/Measurable Objectives).
These goals are generally responsible for driving the training course
or subject level. They are generally simple statements of what subject’s
participants will learn in a particular course. It is very important to
state these goals in measurable terms. This can be done by making
them active imperatives with the learner as the subject and a statement
of quality as the ending. For example: Learners will be able to
estimate the volume of timber in a stand by taking plots to measure
height, diameter, and number of trees per acre, using diameter tapes,
clinometers, loggers tapes as tools, or using a computer course to
perform their calculations and be within 5 percent of the instructor’s
estimate.
- Specific Level (Class Session Level / Measurable Objectives). These
are very task-oriented goals and relate to small discrete pieces of
learning that must take place to achieve mid-level goals. These goals
are often not enumerated in detail, but are left to be derived from the
mid-level goals. An example of a specific-level goal would be to learn
to identify the three particle sizes used in soil classification of sand,
silt, and clay.
4. Instructional Activities and Organisation
The development and organization of instructional activities is the
central part of the development of the curriculum and syllabus. While it
will be broadly only broadly defined in the curriculum it will be much
more detailed in the subject syllabus. If trainers and managers are thorough in their goal development, then the selection, development, and
organization of instructional activities is a fairly straightforward process:
- Develop or use specific learning experiences to achieve goals at all
three levels. Like goals, learning experiences are hierarchical. Specific
learning experiences that will cover a class session or two are the
building blocks of syllabus and serve specific-level goals. Together
these specific-level experiences make up the learning experiences of a
course or subjects and serve a series of mid-level goals.
- Need to recognize hierarchy of knowledge, attitudes, skills, and
abilities (KASA). Learning covers different sorts of material. Knowledge
learning requires acquisition of knowledge or facts. Knowledge
learning is the basis of all learning. Ability learning involves manipulation of knowledge through synthesis and prediction. Ability learning is a higher order learning than knowledge learning, because
knowledge is a first step to developing abilities. Skills’ learning is the
practical application of knowledge and ability learning. Skill learning
is very hands-on and is viewed by some as being basic.
- Need to know or assume entry-level of KASA performance to
design appropriate instruction. Each subject syllabus within a
training course needs to assume an entry level of KASA. Knowing or
assuming where Foresters and Forest rangers who will be trained are
allows the trainers to design instructional activities to take the students
where they need to be.
- Use prerequisites to try and get entry-level KASA performance. In
training, students are not always long-term learners as they would be
in a university or college courses. Therefore, it is very important to use
define prerequisite classes or skills to ensure entry-level KASA performance.
5. Evaluation
The final step in the model of both the curriculum for a whole course and
subject syllabus development is evaluation. This can be used to measure
student and teacher achievement, to give feed back to learning activities,
and to determine the effectiveness of broad educational courses.
- Measure goal achievement. Goals that are well developed and
described in measurable ways are fairly easy to evaluate. The achievement
of these goals by learners can be measured using a pre- and
post-tests. The results of this evaluation can be used to improve the
courses. In another setting, these results could have been used to
grade learners.
- Formative evaluation. Formative evaluations are done during an
educational course with a goal of improving course decisions. Formative
evaluations are often used to measure intermediate student
achievement of learning objectives.
- Summative evaluation. Summative evaluations are more formal and
seek to evaluate course effectiveness. The evaluations are undertaken
by assessing achievement of course objectives and course impact .
Various levels of summative course evaluations are used. These levels
comprise a hierarchy; the higher the level achieved in a summative
evaluation, the more information the trainer will have regarding
course effectiveness:
-
Inputs level evaluation looks at the resources necessary to conduct a
course.
- Activities level consists of listing the activities involved in conducting
the course.
- Involvement level lists the number and type of participants in a
course.
- Reactions level characterizes the response or reaction of learners to a
course and the instructor.
- KASA change level attempts to measure changes in the knowledge,
attitude, skills, and abilities of the students.
- Practice change level looks at behaviour changes in the learners
because of an educational experience.
- End results level attempts to see if the overall broadest programme
objectives are met. In other words, is the world a better place because
of the forestry certificate training programme?
Process approach:
Before planning or reviewing any certificate course, several issues have
to be addressed. The development of both the curriculum and the syllabus
should be undertaken in a participatory manner. The exercise should
not be undertaken merely by the upper management of an organisations
but should involve the management, the trainers and the professionals
working in the field. A step-by-step approach is being proposed and
these have also been depicted in figure 2:
Step 1 - Review of positions in the Department:
Organisational / institutional management needs to assess and review
all of the job positions in the department with respect to the ability to
meet the vision and goals of the department. The review would need to
take into consideration both internal and external factors, including the
changes taking place in the forestry profession, the increasing role of the
private sector, ISO 9002, results of the training needs assessment and so
on.
Step 2 - Establish a Curriculum Design Team:
The proposal would be to establish a Curriculum Design Team. The team
should be made up of members from the training institute, representatives
from industry and private sector along with lecturers and professional
from the field. Consideration should be also possibly given of
integrating an “independent” forestry professional, a representative of
the human resource department of the organisation and also an instructional
design expert. This person would be responsible for assisting to
match the best pedagogical approaches with the resources available to
the training institution. The team would be the main “working” body
charged by the management of the organisation to ensure that the whole
curricula are reviewed and revised.
Figure 2: Curriculum / syllabus stakeholder participation process
(click inside to enlarge)
Step 3 - Review / Revise the Curricula:
On the basis of the recommendations made by senior management of
organisation / institution, the Curricula Design Team would revise and
update the course curricula. The team would make use of all available
information on the training needs, including the any training needs
assessment. The team would undertake a systematic review of the curricula
for the whole certificate courses, including all of the various
subjects that would have to be covered in the curriculum. The team will
allocate the initial credit hours for each subject. This will only be indicative
initially and will be finalized once all the subject syllabi have been
completed.
Step 4 - Define Job Descriptions and Assign Credit Hours:
The team could also assist in the process of defining proper job descriptions
for the relevant positions defined by the management of the organisation
/ institution, this may prove useful in defining the training needs
and thus the curricula of the course. In addition, the Curricula Design
Team could assign the initial credit hours that will be allocated to each of the subjects defined in the curricula.
Step 5 - Establish sub-team to elaborate the subject syllabus:
Once all the subjects have been defined, then sub-teams can be formed
who will be charged with the task of reviewing and revising the syllabi of
all of the subjects. The sub-team will formulate the revised syllabi for
each subject.
Steps 6 - 8 Review syllabus, formulate initial draft subject syllabus and lesson plan:
The sub-team made up of professionals and trainers will develop the
subject syllabus. The template attached to this tool kit / guideline may
prove useful for this purpose. The sub-teams will also formulate the
lesson / content plans for each subject. Each sub-team will also outline
the appropriate techniques for assessing student achievement.
Step 9 - Submit initial draft subject syllabus and lesson plan to Curricula
Design Team:
Each sub-team will then submit the draft syllabi to the Curriculum
design team / board for verification with the curriculum. A feed-back
loop between the syllabus sub teams and the Curricula Design Team
would be undertaken in which proposed changes would be integrated
into the syllabus and duplications and overlaps removed.
Step 10 - Finalise the curricula and syllabi:
The Curricula Design Team would be responsible for ensuring that the
subjects are in line with the overall course curricula, that duplications
and overlaps have been streamlined and that the course is manageable
and can be implemented to the level desired in the given time period.
Step 11 - Submit revised curricula and syllabus to management for
approval:
The Curriculum design team would submit the curricula and all of the
subject syllabi to the senior management for final approval.
The following templates are designed to guide curricula and syllabus
training institutions during the design or revision stage of curricula and
syllabi.
Table 1: Curriculum template
(click inside to enlarge)
Table 2: Syllabus template
(click inside to enlarge)
Table 3: Course content / lesson plan template
(click inside to enlarge)
|
top | 
